How much wood could a big wind chuck...and how far?

That's my tree branch, but it's twenty feet on the opposite side of the tree from which it came.  Luckily no harm was done to the neighbor's building, and he and I made short work of clearing it. 

We've had some crazy weather this week in Minnesota.  Tuesday morning, eighty-mile-per-hour straight line winds hit Belle Plaine.  As far as I know, nobody was injured, but more than 50 trees toppled over.  I have soft maples, which are scoffed at as weed trees.  That would indicate to me they are native, which means they are adapted to prairie winds, which means they have really long and widespread roots, which means they don't tip over.  I'll take a weed tree any day!  I did lose one very large branch, but luckily it did little damage to my fence, and none at all to the neighbor's building.

All this weather is playing havoc with my paint schedule, but I finally got a start on the garage door project today.  The homeowner primed and base coated it, so the only boring part I have to do is tape, and man is there a lot of tape!  There's also an awful lot left to paint, but I did manage to get the technique figured out to match her wood sample.  I can't get the grain to go as fine as cherry, since the doors are already embossed with an oak grain, but it's still coming along nicely. 

In case you are wondering, the house,which has had some siding boards replaced, is getting a new paint job, with a deep ocean blue body color, and creamy white trim.  When it's all done, the only wood grain will be the garage doors and front entry doors.


After primer and base coat, it's time to tape the first sections to be panted.



This wood grain uses two glazes.  The first, a raw umber with a touch of golden color, shown on the bottom strip, is used to make the grain pattern.   This is followed almost immediately with a cherry colored glaze, tinted with burnt umber.

Here's a close-up.  Pretty real, huh?  Reminds me of a 1950's Cris  Craft boat I once saw.  Perhaps I'll go into ark painting, if the rain doesn't let up.



One panel complete, way too many yet to go.  Sure hope the weather man is wrong about chance of rain on Saturday!

 I'll try to get a photo once the whole place is painted, and my doors are finished.  For now, it's been a really long day, and I need to go shower off a layer of eau de Alaska (that's bug spray mixed with sunscreen), and get some sleep.  Hope your weekend is forecasted sunny and bright!

For the D-I-Yers:  I use latex paint as a base coat over a bonding primer, for exterior faux finishes.  Then, instead of glazing liquid or gel stain, I use the deepest tone base of the same product as the base coat, tinted with universal tints.  This insures that the finish coat is as strong as any coat of paint would be, and does away with the need for any clear coat.  I don't use clear coats on exterior paint work.  Pigmented paint holds up to sunlight better than any clear.

If you have questions or comments, leave them below, or email me at dawnmariedelara@gmail.com.

More samples of wood graining and other faux techniques can be seen on my website, theartofthehome.com.